Atlantic Highways Thread

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

So you can now travel from Saint Louis de Ha! Ha! in Quebec to Antigonish on a 4 lane TCH.

I don’t know if the part from Marshy Hope to Sutherlands River is done though, maybe not until late summer.

[ryanaye]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

I don’t know if the part from Marshy Hope to Sutherlands River is done though, maybe not until late summer.

Correct, the section from Kenzieville to Sutherlands River is not complete. There are still some finishing touches they need to do on the future WB lane i.e., bridges, asphalt paving, milling, and line painting. Should be done by August from what I've gathered.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/shelburn...nded-1.6420902
Sheesh, it's rare to see wildfire burn through the bridge like that.

[Dmajackson]

RFC - Highway 104 Rest Stations

"The intent of this bid call is to obtain an offer to perform work to complete a Rest Station located at approximately 1.8km West of the Cobequid Pass Toll Plaza on Highway 104 Westbound (Westbound Site) and approximately 1.0km West of the Cobequid Pass Toll Plaza on Highway 104 Eastbound (Eastbound Site) for a Stipulated Price contract, in accordance with the Contract Documents."

[Dengler Avenue]

Interesting. I thought that work has already been underway when I saw construction near the toll plaza last summer.

On another note, does anyone have an elevation profile of Highway 104? I’m just curious what’s the steepest slope on Copequid Pass. 5%? 6%? (Apparently N.S.T.I.R. is okay with using 6% grade on divided freeways.)

[Dmajackson]

Highway 104 Twinning - Taylors Road to Paqtnkek

Construction is set to begin in 2024/25.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Highway 104 Twinning - Taylors Road to Paqtnkek

Construction is set to begin in 2024/25.

Woah that’s a shocker. The extra space under that interchange in the FN was no symbolic gesture (i.e. giving people a false hope of eventual twinning) after all.
With all the at-grade intersections though, I’m curious how N.S. will extend Trunk 4. This is not Ontario after all, where MTO doesn’t believe in EDR’s. (There are spots in Ontario that are accessible by freeway only, where that freeway used to be a 2-lane rural road.)

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Woah that’s a shocker. The extra space under that interchange in the FN was no symbolic gesture (i.e. giving people a false hope of eventual twinning) after all.
With all the at-grade intersections though, I’m curious how N.S. will extend Trunk 4. This is not Ontario after all, where MTO doesn’t believe in EDR’s. (There are spots in Ontario that are accessible by freeway only, where that freeway used to be a 2-lane rural road.)

A lot of old trunk routes in Nova Scotia had a lot windier routes that were abandoned as the 100-series was expanded. In some places the old routing would have bridges demolished while the roads were downgraded to local streets. Heatherton Village Road and Dagger Woods Road are examples.

In this case it looks like from the west a new road south of 104 from new T-intersection at Taylor Road to Dagger Woods Road (W). Crosses under 104 to an upgraded Dagger Woods Road looping back to Hwy 104. Crosses under Hwy 104 and runs parallel to it until Pomquet River Road at Heatherton Village Road. Upgrade and reconnect the two sections of Heatherton Village Road with a new bridge. Cross under 104 and use the abandoned ROW reconnect to existing Trunk 4 at Exit 36A (to be abandoned).

Best guess for the interchange is it will be at Pomquet River /Pomquet Monks Head Road / Heatherton Village Road junction with the new Trunk 4. The layout should be like Highway 102 Exit 10 (Shubenacadie) but rotated 180 degrees with a roundabout at the standard interchange design portion.

Do all of the above and Trunk 4 is a single road (no intersection turns) from Antigonish to Aulds Cove.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/5928...96055707175413
I found a Facebook page for more photos of 104 twinning.

[Dengler Avenue]

The new divided 4-lane section of N.S.-104 around Barney’s River is now showing on Google map satellite view.

[Mapleton_Roadie]

Now with the Falmouth ramp being complete. NS TIR is supposed to connect the jersey barriers and remove the jungle of traffic pylons.

Maybe in this lifetime a decision will be made on what the Avon River crossing will look like and that stretch of highway will be safer to drive.

[q12]

Nova Scotia's Highway 104 is now a four lane divided (controlled access) freeway from the New Brunswick border to the east of Antigonish, Nova Scotia a total of 232 km in length as the project is now complete.

[OliverD]

Wow, that is a long time coming. I lived in Antigonish until 1999 and there was talk of this project even back then.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Wow, that is a long time coming. I lived in Antigonish until 1999 and there was talk of this project even back then.

And in Manitoba, folks get excited and the government thinks its a great accomplishment to convert one intersection on a low standard four-lane expressway to an interchange. MB couldn't handle twinning 40KM of highway to a four-lane controlled access freeway standard.

The next phase of the twinning starts next year; from the current 4-lane end point east of Antigonish to Paqtnkek; another 10KM.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

And in Manitoba, folks get excited and the government thinks its a great accomplishment to convert one intersection on a low standard four-lane expressway to an interchange. MB couldn't handle twinning 40KM of highway to a four-lane controlled access freeway standard.

The next phase of the twinning starts next year; from the current 4-lane end point east of Antigonish to Paqtnkek; another 10KM.

That’s because N.S.T.I.R. used P3 on this thought. Now I’m curious how the next 10 KM of twinning will be financed.

The past weekend, I was camping somewhere in Eastern Ontario and met someone from Moncton. He was boasting how N.B. finished twinning Highway 2 while Quebec’s still going snail pace on twinning QC-185. I told him that N.B. used P3 and that things would always be complicated with Quebec.
The fact that MTQ pretty much shoehorned A-85 between Saint Louis du Ha! Ha! and Dégelis probably meant that Quebec was doing this reluctantly. It was unusual because elsewhere, MTQ built A-50 between the farmland and the Canadian Shield Rocks along Ottawa River instead of shoehorning it along QC-148.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

That’s because N.S.T.I.R. used P3 on this thought. Now I’m curious how the next 10 KM of twinning will be financed.

The past weekend, I was camping somewhere in Eastern Ontario and met someone from Moncton. He was boasting how N.B. finished twinning Highway 2 while Quebec’s still going snail pace on twinning QC-185. I told him that N.B. used P3 and that things would always be complicated with Quebec.
The fact that MTQ pretty much shoehorned A-85 between Saint Louis du Ha! Ha! and Dégelis probably meant that Quebec was doing this reluctantly. It was unusual because elsewhere, MTQ built A-50 between the farmland and the Canadian Shield Rocks along Ottawa River instead of shoehorning it along QC-148.

Perhaps the route for A-85 was due to the EA. No doubt the federal contribution to this project "encouraged" the MTQ to finish sooner than later. Now, if the A-20 mess around Dorion and Pincourt can be resolved, then there will be one true direct freeway connection between Toronto and Montreal.

[Dengler Avenue]

No doubt the federal contribution to this project "encouraged" the MTQ to finish sooner than later.

I suspect that without federal cash, N.B.-2 will still turn into your standard 2-lane road by Edmundston Airport.

As for A20, well… The plan’s still there but MTQ seems notorious for not following through~

[Dmajackson]

I forgot to take my video camera with me but I drove the 103 Halifax - Chester this weekend. It appears the twinning is almost complete to Hubbards. The new lanes are paved and painted. Guardrails are done. The median fencing posts are installed. They are currently ripping up the passing lanes on the old section. They are also connecting the brief section of full new alignment.

At the Hubbards exit they have the new bridge built but no road bed so it appears the twinning will end just shy of the interchange for now.

I think it should be open in a month or so provided no more natural disasters happen (looking at you Lee).

---

New Interchange for Broadway, Pictou County
Public Works
August 31, 2023 - 12:46 PM
People living in and around Broadway, Pictou County, will have better access to Highway 104 now that a new interchange will be built in the area.

The interchange will become Exit 28. The distance between exits 27 and 29 is about 20 kilometres, which is longer than the typical gap between exits. It will make travel easier for local residents and improve safety by giving emergency responders better access to the community.

“This is good news for people living in and around the Broadway area,” said Kim Masland, Minister of Public Works. “The Highway 104 twinning project has been a tremendous success and the addition of this interchange only builds on our work to improve safety along this important trade corridor.”

The new interchange is also expected to reduce traffic for people living along Trunk 4 in the area.

Design work is already underway, and the project is expected to cost about $9 million. Construction is expected to begin early this fall and be complete next summer.

Dexter Nova Alliance, the Province’s partner on the Highway 104 twinning project, is leading the interchange project.

Quick Facts:

- the Broadway interchange is an addition to the Province’s Highway 104 twinning project between Sutherlands River and Antigonish
- the interchange will include an eastbound exit ramp and a westbound entrance ramp

Government of Nova Scotia Press Release

[Nashe]

Hey... I've been doing a bit of researching, just for fun, in another thread (re: old NB railbeds) and wonder if anyone knows, or can tell, based on old pictures, satellite data or perhaps great-grandpa/ma where the train station (and rail line) into Alma, NB was? I'm trying to figure out the path it took to get back to Riverside Albert, but all I can come up with is that the current road (114) might have replaced it at the bottom of the gully.

[MonctonRad]

It's entirely possible that the original ROW for the railway is the current 114. It's the flattest bit of land connecting Alma to Riverside-Albert. The original road connection between these two communities might have been the 915.

I don't know this for a fact, but it seems reasonable.